Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition

Discover our vanishing Rio Grande wetlands

By Rick LoBello

If I were to list a handful of names of people in El Paso who really know and understand the most threatened natural environments in our area, John Sproul would be one of them.   For many years John has been the face of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park in the Lower Valley.  His hard work and passion for conserving our vanishing wetlands is obvious to this observer and hundreds of others who have met him.   On Saturday, March 23 John will lead a two hour walk through the wetlands in one of the least known areas of El Paso.  If you have never been to this part of El Paso now is the time to make plans.

The FREE two-mile easy walking tour of the park will be from 9am to 11am.   Coming from the north on Loop 375 take the Pan American Exit and turn left under the freeway.  Travel 1.5 miles until you reach the bridge crossing the Riverside Canal.  For more details on how to get there especially if you are going for the first time, visit the park’s website at Riobosque.org.   The site is loaded with all kinds of great information including a map, management plans and more about the park’s flora and fauna.

Join John this weekend and if you can’t make it get on his email list to learn more about upcoming events and volunteer information by emailing John at jsproul@utep.edu.

The Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition (CDEC) was founded in 2004 at the El Paso Zoo to serve as a resource on information about the Chihuahuan Desert, to encourage lifelong learning about the Chihuahuan Desert and to encourage collaboration among public educators, the public and CDEC.

Last year we lost a little steam in achieving some of our goals.  This happens from time to time with volunteer organizations like ours where most people involved are working full time jobs.  That said our 14^th Annual Chihuahuan Desert Fiesta at Franklin Mountains State Park in 2018 recorded its second highest attendance.  Special thanks to everyone who played a role in helping make it happen.

To help us get back on track with a desert reset to evaluate our goals and mission, we are polling our current Board of Directors, past members and other interested folks to find a good time to have a spring meeting.  CDEC has many opportunities in 2019 to increase its conservation impact especially with all the local interest in new hiking trails, the Chihuahuan Desert Conference in November and the fall opening of a new $14 million-dollar Chihuahuan Desert exhibit at the Zoo.

Thanks for your interest in our group.  We would love to have you join us.   Two easy ways to stay in touch include entering your email address to the “follow link” on our blog at chihuahuandesert.org and liking our Facebook page.

A doodle poll will be sent out soon.  Please watch for it and if the dates and times work for you, I hope to see you at our next meeting.   If you are not sure if you are on our email list and want to attend, please send me an email at ricklobello@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

 

Rick LoBello, Chair

Dr. Gertrud Konings is back on our new website as an Administrator.  She is one of the hardest working CDEC members ever.  She is solely responsible for approving all certified habitat applications and most of the content on our Teachers and Resources pages.  She also updates our events page.  The YouTube video link above focuses on our efforts to encourage people to landscape with native plants.  In case you have not noticed we have made applying for Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition Certified Habitat much easier with a new online Survey Monkey form.

Hello from El Paso,

Our new website is up and running.   We apologize for the delay.   Hopefully we will be adding lots of new content soon.  Please send comments, pictures, stories and more to my office at lobellorl@elpasotexas.gov.   We would love to hear from you.

Rick LoBello
Vice Chair, Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition